Portable aspirators



June 17, 1969 c. A. SORIANO PORTABLE ASPIRATORS Sheet Filed May 25, 1967 INVENTOR.

(liar/e5 fl, Sarama BY I //I ull June 17, 1969 c. A. SORIANO 3,450,335

PORTABLE ASPIRATORS Filed May 25, 1967 Sheet 2 of 2 I N VE N TQR. (harks 17. Sana 2m BY Laws/m United States Patent 3,450,335 PORTABLE ASPIRATORS Charles A. Soriano, Fairfield, Conn., assignor to Miller- Stephenson Chemical Company, Inc., Danbury, Conn. Filed May 25, 1967, Ser. No. 641,336 Int. Cl. F04f /04, 5/48 US. Cl. 230-95 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Background of the invention The materials handling problems involved in moving small amounts of liquids, powders or solid particles have not been adequately solved. Particularly, in the manufacture of miniature electronic components, there is no adequate commercially available device for removing dust or foreign particles from a miniature work space, such as the header on which a micro-circuit chip is to be mounted. Likewise in the field of medicine, the drawing of small blood samples from a patients finger or ear lobe is customarily achieved by a length of tubing on which the technician sucks to draw in the required quantity of blood, with obvious risk of contamination of the blood sample. In sampling small quantities of caustics or acids, similar techniques are often employed, with obvious risks to the operators. Removal of dust particles from miniature manufacturing operations, whether in watchmaking, integrated circuit manufacture, or optics manufacture, requires the use of the traditional cleaning toolsthe swab and the camels hair brush.

Summary of the invention The portable aspirators of the present invention are unitary, easily handled devices utilizing such self-contained and portable power sources as pressurized aerosol containers. These devices produce localized regions of substantial negative pressure or partial vacuum which are highly useful for vacuum cleaning small, inaccessible areas at a work station. With equal ease, the devices of this invention supply localized positive pressure which may be used for dusting or blowing droplets of fluid or solid particles away from a local area at a work station. In addition, the devices of this invention are easily adapted for collecting small fluid samples or for pumping quantities of fluid from one reservoir to another.

Accordingly, a principal object of the present invention is to supply a unitary, self-powered and easily portable materials handling device capable of moving fluids or solid material.

Another object of the invention is to provide such devices capable of producing localized regions of negative pressure for such purposes as vacuum cleaning a local region at a work station.

A further object of the invention is to provide such devices capable of producing localized positive pressure at a small local area of a work station.

Another object of the invention is to provide such devices capable of moving small quantities of liquids for the collection of liquid samples.

Another object is to provide such devices capable of continuous pumping of fluids.

Other and more specific objects will be apparent from the features, elements, combinations and operating procedures disclosed in the following detailed description and shown in the drawings.

The drawings FIGURE 1 is a fragmentary perspective view of one embodiment of the present invention shown in use for drawing a partial vacuum at a work station.

FIGURE 2 is a fragmentary top plan view of the embodiment shown in FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 3 is a sectional side elevation view of this embodiment taken along the line 33 in FIGURE 2.

FIGURE 4 is a fragmentary view of a cleaning accessory useful with this embodiment.

FIGURE 5 is a schematic diagram showing this embodiment of the invention employed in a pumping system.

FIGURE 6 is a fragmentary perspective view of the embodiment of the invention incorporating a length of extension tubing for use in producing a localized negative pressure region at a remote, inaccessible location.

FIGURE 7 is a fragmentary perspective view of a modified embodiment of the invention, and

FIGURE 8 is a top plan sectional view of a portion of the embodiment shown in FIGURE 7.

Description 0] the invention A preferred embodiment of the aspirator devices of this invention is illustrated in FIGURES 1 through 6. As shown in these figures, this embodiment of the invention is specifically configured to be mounted upon and actuated by a pressurized aerosol container 11. Thus, the aspiriator 12 is provided with a casing 13 incorporating a telescoped interfitting stern actuator bushing 14, which is provided with a stern portal shaped and dimensioned to receive in anchored engagement therein a protruding valve stem 16 of a rockable tilting valve mechanism 17 incorporated in the aerosol container 11. This configuration allows rocking or tilting actuation of aspirator 12 in any direction about a tilting center 18 near the top of the container 11 to a tilted position 12A, as shown in FIGURE 3. The overall configuration of the aspirator casing 13 illustrated in the figures has been found to be well adapted for multiplecavity injection molding and its external shape and surfaces are designed to provide an attractive appearance with maximum operating convenience for the operator. Thus, the stem actuator bushing 14 is firmly gripped by a suitable set of engaging splines or by a tight force fit within the mating interior surface of a bushing sleeve 19, protruding downwardly inside the casing 13 and forming inside itself a plenum chamber 21. Extending from the upper end of this plenum chamber 21 in a forward direction is an intake conduit 22, opening at the forward end of casing 13 into an enlarged intake portal 23-, which is adapted for anchoring engagement of intake tubing 24 therein. Extending downward from the upper end of casing 13 inside the plenum chamber 21 toward stem actuator bushing 14 is an exit sleeve 26 having a substantially fiat, horizontal lower end surface 27 spaced from and generally parallel to a similar, substantially flat end surface 28 on stem actuator bushing 14 closely juxtaposed to end surface 27. Surface 27 may be called an exit surface, and the surface 28 may be called a pressure surface; a substantially vertical pressure conduit 23 extends upward through the bushing 14 and connects the valve stem 16 with the pressure surface 28, forming therein a pressure orifice 3-1. The exit sleeve 26 has formed therein a substantially vertical exit conduit 32 connecting an exit orifice 33 in the exit surface 27 with an exhaust port 34 formed in the external surface of the casing 13, preferably near the top of casing 13 as shown in the figures.

The greatly enlarged cross-sectional view of FIGURE 3 shows the preferred configuration of the pressure orifice 31 and the exit orifice 33 respectively formed in the facing, closely juxtaposed pressure and exit surfaces 28 and 27. As there shown, the surfaces 27 and 28 are preferably flat, parallel surfaces spaced apart by a sufficient distance to create between themselves a plenum zone Z communicating via plenum chamber 21 with intake conduit 22 and intake tubing 24. This plenum zone Z formed between the two surfaces 27 and 28 is wide enough to allow the free flow of fluid through passages 24, 22 and 21 into exit orifice 33.

The release of the pressurized contents of the aerosol container 11 through its valve stem 16 by the operators tilting of aspirator 12 anchored thereon to its tilted position 12A exposes the pressurized and normally liquefied contents of the container 11 to atmospheric pressure via pressure orifice 31, plenum zone Z, exit orifice 33 and exit conduit 32 opening through exhaust port 34 to the atmosphere. Conventional Freon propellants for aerosol containers are normally released in a gaseous state when these containers are vented to the atmosphere, and the passage of this abruptly released Freon gas through plenum zone Z and exit orifice 33 into exit conduit 32 produces unusually effective aspirating action in the devices of this invention.

Intake mode of operation Negative pressures of inches of mercury or more in intake tubing 24 have been produced by these devices many times in easily reproducible tests, employing the aspirators shown in the figures and incorporating the features described above. These unusually high negative pressures produce excellent aspirating inttake of atmospheric air through the intake tubing 24 when exhaust port 34 is opened to the atmosphere for the release of exhaust stream E therefrom. Thus, as indicated by the arrows V shown in FIGURE 1 and also in FIGURES 6, 7 and 8, excellent vacuum cleaning upsweep of dust, powders and particulate solid materials occurs near the entrance of the intake tubing 24. If this tubing is formed as a relatively stiff quill, six to ten inches in length, protruding forwardly from the casing 13, as indicated in FIGURE 1, its intake end may be conveniently maneuvered by an operator holding the aerosol container 11 with the aspirator casing 13 securely anchored thereon. The intake end of the elongated intake tubing 24 may thus be moved and maneuvered by the operator within closely confined and inaccessible work spaces at an operating station. The device may thus be employed to collect and remove dust and foreign matter from optical surfaces, from headers, chips or bonding surfaces of semiconductor, integrated circuit or other miniaturized electronic components, or from work stations at which miniature mechanical movements are being assembled or repaired, as in the field of watchmaking.

If desired, the intake tubing 24 may be tipped with a ring of soft brush-bristles 51 to dislodge particles to be removed, as shown in FIGURE 4. Furthermore, if the intake tubing 24 is formed with a portion of its length fabricated of flexible tubing 36 in an elongated flexible segment, having an intake quill 37 anchored at its intake end, the capability of these devices for probing and cleaning very small and highly inaccessible regions at a work station is greatly enhanced. Thus, as shown in FIGURE 6, the flexibility of the flexible segment 36 coupled with the stiff intake quill 37 permits the quill 37 to be maneuvered deep inside an inaccessible region 38 in order to vacuum clean a remote surface thereof, as indicated by the intake stream identified by the arrow V.

Blowing mode of operation As shown in FIGURES l and 6, a trap or filter 39, preferably filled with loose, fibrous filter material 41, may be incorporated as a length of stiff tubing telescoped over adjacent segments of the intake tubing 24. Solid materials drawn into the intake end of intake tubing 24 will be trapped in the filter material 41 inside the filter 39. Such trapped materials may be expelled at any location desired by reversing the operation of the device through the closing of exhaust port 34 by the operator while he is simultaneously tilting casing 13 to release the pressurized contents of container 11. When operated in this manner, the stream of gas issuing from container 11 via valve stem 16 and pressure orifice 31 is blocked from its normal exit through exit orifice 33 as exhaust stream E. The exhaust stream of pressurized gas issuing from container 11 thus exits down the length of intake tube 24, reversing the usual flow therein and blowing out most of the solid particles entrapped in the filter material 41.

This reverse or blowing mode of operation of the device is often desired for clearing foreign matter from a working surface when the cleanliness of nearby surfaces is not critical and in many cases the aspirator devices of this invention are usefully employed in this manner.

As indicated in FIGURE 1, the casing 13 is preferably provided with an actuating surface 42 readily shaped and conveniently presented for tilting depression of aspirator 12 by the operators thumb, and the exhaust port 34 is preferably formed in the top surface of casing 13, closely adjacent to the upper end of the actuating surface 42. Thus, the operator may conveniently shift from the intake mode of the device as described above to the blowing mode merely by shifting his thumb slightly upward and forward to cover the exhaust port 34, at which point the pressure of his thumb on casing 13 still serves to tilt the casing and its valve stem 16 anchored therein about tilting center 18 as indicated in FIGURE 3 to its tilted position 12A.

Pumping operation In the pumping system shown in FIGURE 5, the assembly shown in FIGURES 1 through 4 is shown with its intake tubing 24 coupled to a flexible segment of tubing 36 connected to an evacuation conduit 43 mounted for drawing a partial vacuum within an enclosed container such as a flask 44 closed by a two-hole stopper 46, with the conduit 43 passing through one hole in this stopper. A discharge conduit 47 having its intake end immersed below the surface of a reservoir of fluid 48 is provided with a discharge end 49 passing through the second hole in the two hole stopper 46 and thus communicating with the interior of the flask 44.

Actuation of the aspirator device 12 on the aerosol container 11 draws a partial vacuum within the conduits 24, 36 and 43, partially evacuating the flask 44. If the fluid 48 in the reservoir is exposed to atmospheric pressure, for example, the pressure differential between the inside of the flask 44 and the free surface of the fluid 48 forces the fluid into conduit 47 and through discharge conduit 49 into flask 44. In this manner samples of acid, caustics, sterile or poisonous fluids may easily be collected for testing without requiring the operator to suck them into a sample tube at the risk of taking some of the fluid itself into his mouth.

In a successful commercial embodiment of an aspirator device taking the form shown in FIGURES 1 through 6, highly effective aspirating and blowing action has repeatedly been observed in all of the manufactured devices tested, which incorporate the following dimensions. The pressure orifice 31 is 0.125 inch long and 0.020 inch in diameter. The plenum zone Z, comprising the space between the two surfaces 27 and 28, is 0.0175 plus or minus 0.0025 inch in length, and the exit conduit 32 is slightly more than 0.250 inch long, and 0.045 inch in diameter. In this commercial embodiment, as best shown in FIG- URE 3, the pressure orifice 31 and the exit orifice 33 are coaxially aligned on the axis of stem valve 16, providing a straight continuous passageway for the propellant gas passing from container 11 through valve stem 16 to exhaust from casing 13 at exhaust port 34.

Lateral exhaust An alternative embodiment 13A of the aspirator devices of this invention is illustrated in FIGURES 7 and 8, where a laterally directed external exhaust port 34A is joined by an exit conduit 32A opening at an exit orifice 33A formed in a generally cylindrical internal eXit surface 27A. In this embodiment, the stem actuator bushing 14 incorporates a pressure conduit 29A communicating with a pressure orifice 31A opening laterally through a pressure surface 28A on the side of the stem actuator 14 directly toward exit orifice 33A to form a plenum zone between surfaces 27A and 28A. The stream of pressurized contents from the aerosol container 11A released through this embodiment 13A of the invention thus travels around a corner for release laterally at the exhaust port 34A shown in FIGURES 7 and 8 in an exit stream E. In some cases this lateral exhaust stream is preferred, and the embodiment of FIGURES 7 and 8 also permits relative angular shifting of the casing 13A and the stem actuator bushing 14A through an angle of 90 about the normally vertical aXis of the valve stem 16 anchored in the lower end of the stem bushing 14A, permitting the intake conduit 22A to be juxtaposed directly before the pressure orifice 31A for convenient conversion of the device from its intake mode to its pressure mode.

While the objects of the invention are efiiciently achieved by the preferred forms of the invention described in the foregoing specification, the invention also includes changes and variations falling within and between the definitions of the following claims.

I claim:

1. A portable aspirator comprising in combination:

(A) an aspirator casing enclosing a plenum zone bounded by a pressure surface and an exit surface,

(B) means forming an exit orifice in the exit surface joining the plenum zone to the outside of the casing, (C) pressure cnduit means in the casing joining a pres sure portal to the plenum zone, and forming in the pressure surface at a point juxtposed to the exit orifice a pressure orifice having a smaller cross-sectional area than does the exit orifice, 1

(D) means in the casing forming an intake conduit connecting the plenum zone to an intakezone outside the casing, and

(E) a pressurized container having a cap valve assembly (1) incorporating a valve element movable relative to the container between a dormant sealing position and an actuated delivery position, said valve element being interfittingly and telescopingly anchored to said aspirator casing whereby said pressure portal operatively connects the interior of the pressurized container to the pressure orifice via the movable valve element.

2. The portable aspirator of claim 1 wherein the aspirator casing is positioned to transmit actuating force to the movable valve element in directions selected to produce movement of the valve element between its dormant sealing position and its actuated delivery position, whereby the pressurized container serves as an integral portable pressure source actuated by movement of the aspirator casing anchored to its movable valve element.

3. The portable aspirator of claim 2 wherein the movable valve element is a protruding valve stem, mounted for tilting actuation relative to the container.

4. The portable aspirator of claim 2 wherein the movable valve element is an axially-reciprocated plunger element.

5. The portable aspirator combination defined in claim 1 wherein, the pressure orifice, the plenum zone and the exit orifice together form a straight, continuous, c0- axial passage through which the contents of the pressurized container are released when the aspirator casing anchored to the valve stem is moved by an operator.

6. The portable aspirator combination defined in claim 1 wherein the exit orifice forms a laterally directed exhaust port in an outer surface of the aspirator casing.

7. The portable aspirator defined in claim 1 wherein the exit orifice forms an upwardly directed exhaust port in an outer surface of the aspirator casing.

8. The portable aspirator defined in claim 1 further including elongated conduit means connecting the intake conduit to a work area spaced away from the aspirator casing.

9. The combination defined in claim 8 wherein at least a portion of the elongated conduit means is flexible.

10. Portable aspirator apparatus comprising in combination (A) a manually-portable container of compressed propellant gas stored at a storage pressure substantially higher than atmospheric pressure,

(B) a pressure-release valve thereon having a valve port normally closed by a valve member having a protruding valve stem,

(1) movable relative to the container between a dormant position sealing the valve port and an actuated position, and

(2) normally biased toward its dormant sealing position,

(C) an aspirator having a pressure portal dimensioned for telescoping anchoring engagement over the protruding valve stem of the pressure release valve and having (1) a hollow aspirator casing enclosing an internal plenum zone and incorporating means forming a pressure orifice joining the pressure portal to the plenum zone and thereby connecting the compressed propellant via the movable valve stem to the plenum zone inside the aspirator casing,

(2) intake conduit means connecting the plenum zone to an external aspiration zone outside the casing,

(3) an exit orifice connecting the plenum zone to a region outside the casing,

(4) and an external actuation surface oriented to receive manual actuation force applied in a direction selected to produce movement of the aspirator casing and the valve member to which it is anchored from the dormant position to the actuated position.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,661,960 3/1928 Riehl 230- 1,954,752 4/1934 Bridgham 230-95 2,376,348 5/1945 Fox 103-235 X 2,458,508 1/1949 Goetz 103-263 X 2,575,513 11/1951 Fox 230-92 X 2,846,710 8/1958 Haka 230-95 X 2,875,702 3/1959 Bletcher 230-92 X 2,900,978 8/ 1959 Johannisson 230-95 X 3,279,680 10/1966 Kudlaty 230-111 3,338,173 8/1967 Gunzel 230-111 X 3,338,266 8/1967 Zilka et a1. 103-263 X FOREIGN PATENTS 976,578 2/ 1962 Great Britain.

DONLEY I. STOCKING, Primary Examiner. W. I. KRAUSS, Assistant Examiner.

US. Cl. X.R.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Certificate Patent No. 3,450,335 Patented June 17, 1969 Charles A. Soriano Application having been made by Charles A. Soriano, the inventor named in the atent above identified, and Miller-Stephenson Chemical Company, Inc., Danbury, Connecticut, the assignee, for the issuance of a certificate under the provisions of Title 35, Section 256, of the United States Code, adding the name of George M. Stephenson as a joint inventor, and a showing and proof of facts satisfying the requirements of the said section having been submitted, it is this 10th day of August, 1971, certified that the name of the said George M. Stephenson is hereby added to the said patent as a joint inventor with the said Charles A. Soriano.

FRED W. SHERLING Associate Solicitor. 

